STT. Eight Months Pregnant, 22-Year-Old Woman Disappears After Stepping Out of Car During Late-Night Stop
Cajairah Jae Fraise was twenty-two years old, and she was eight months pregnant.
Her body carried the quiet weight of a life almost ready to arrive, and her heart carried the soft, hopeful anticipation of a mother waiting to meet her son.
She was due to give birth on March 29, 2023.
It was a date circled not only on calendars, but in conversations, in dreams, and in the gentle planning of a family preparing to welcome a new life.
Cajairah had already chosen love before her child ever took his first breath.
She had chosen to stay close to her parents.
She had chosen to prepare carefully.
She had chosen to hope.
On February 23, 2023, Cajairah spent the day with her mother, Karah Fraise.
It was an ordinary day in appearance, filled with errands and appointments, but it was also a day heavy with meaning.
They went to the gym together, moving slowly and carefully, respecting Cajairah’s pregnancy while still honoring her desire to stay strong.
They attended appointments that marked the final stretch of waiting, the kind that come with checklists, paperwork, and quiet reassurances that everything was moving forward.
They handled tasks Cajairah needed to complete before giving birth.
Each errand was a small step toward a future that felt close enough to touch.
Cajairah lived with her parents in Moreno Valley.
She was surrounded by familiarity there, by streets she knew, faces she trusted, and routines that felt safe.
Beaumont was not part of her daily world.
It was not a place she knew well, and it was not a place she navigated on her own.
That evening, Cajairah asked to go to her maternal grandmother’s home.
It was a simple request, the kind made without fear or hesitation.
Karah was not feeling well, and her strength had faded as the day wore on.
Because of that, she called her husband and asked him to drive them.
The family got into the car together, unaware that they were stepping into a moment that would divide their lives into before and after.
As they drove through the night, Cajairah said she was hungry.
It was a small statement, ordinary and human, especially for someone carrying a child.
They decided to stop at a Jack in the Box located at 89 Beaumont Avenue in Beaumont, California.
It was late when they arrived, the kind of late hour when lights feel harsher and shadows feel longer.
The drive-thru lane was quiet, and the night felt still.
While waiting in the drive-thru, Cajairah exited the vehicle.
Her mother later said she was not saying much.
There was no argument.
There was no visible distress.
There was no sign that anything was wrong.
Her stepfather saw her standing at the end of the drive-thru lane.
She was close enough to be seen, close enough to feel present, close enough to feel safe.
He pulled forward to pay for the food.
Then he pulled forward again to wait.
When he looked back, Cajairah was gone.
There was no sound.
There was no struggle.
There was no warning.
The last time her parents saw her, she was standing at the end of the drive-thru.
Within minutes, she had vanished.
Confusion came first.
Then panic.
Karah and her husband immediately began searching the area.
Her stepfather got out of the car and looked around the drive-thru lane.
They drove through the surrounding plaza, scanning every corner, every shadow, every place where a person might have gone.
They searched the nearby complex, hoping desperately that they would see her walking back, confused but safe.
They did not find her.
With fear tightening around their hearts, they called 911.
Beaumont Police confirmed that Cajairah was last seen at approximately 10:39 p.m. on February 23, 2023.
Time became frozen around that moment.
Surveillance footage later showed Cajairah walking south behind nearby businesses.
She appeared alone.
She was moving quietly.
The footage then showed her walking behind a charter school located next to the restaurant.
That footage marked the last confirmed sighting of Cajairah Jae Fraise.
After that, there was nothing.
No phone calls.
No messages.
No sightings.
No trace.
Law enforcement began an extensive search.
Officers searched along Highway 79 between Beaumont and Hemet.
They searched on foot.
They deployed K-9 units.
They used drones, helicopters, and airplanes.
Multiple agencies coordinated their efforts, sharing resources and information.
Hospitals, clinics, shelters, and mental health facilities across Riverside County and San Bernardino County were checked.
Facilities in Nevada were also contacted.
There was no record of Cajairah seeking medical care.
There was no evidence she went to a hospital, an urgent care, or any medical provider after she vanished.
For a woman eight months pregnant, that absence was deafening.
Cajairah had been last seen wearing a black hoodie.
She wore gray sweatpants.
She wore black slip-on shoes.
She wore a black shawl.
Clothing that should have been easy to notice.
Clothing that should have led someone to remember her.
But no one came forward.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
The family waited.
They hoped.
They searched.
They lived in the unbearable space between knowing and not knowing.
Cajairah was not only a missing woman.
She was an unborn child’s mother.
She was a daughter.
She was a granddaughter.
She was a life full of plans that would never be completed.
Somewhere, a nursery remained unfinished.
Somewhere, tiny clothes waited for a baby who was never brought home.
Somewhere, a family woke up every day hoping for a call that never came.
Her disappearance remains under active investigation.
And somewhere in the silence left behind, a mother still waits for her son, and a family waits for answers that time refuses to give.
